The line "Non-living material - including clothing, gear, and cyberware - is not affected" really bothers me. This would imply that if you turned someone with cyberware to goo that all their cyberware would be laying on the ground to be taken and that when the mage stopped sustaining the spell the victim would return to normal sans cyberware.

Is that a correct literal interpretation?

Spell text:
Turn to Goo transforms living tissue into a sticky, glue-like substance. The caster must win an Opposed Test pitting her Magic + Spellcasting against the target's Body ( + Counterspelling ). Additionally, the spell's force must equal or exceed the target's Body. Non-living material - including clothing, gear, and cyberware - is not affected. The target is not conscious while under the effects of this spell, and any damage suffered by the gooey form affects the target normally. The goo has a barrier Armor rating equal to Body + net hits ( see Barriers, p. 157 ).

Yup. It's a nasty, nasty spell. Although, I imagine it doesn't turn you into a small puddle, but rather a gelatinous blob approximately the size and mass of the previous form. If you wanted to get to the Cyberware, you'd have to "penetrate" the blob, which would involve doing damage to the Barrier/Structure Rating.

Stealing the cyberware was the big use for the spell. Now you at least need to overcome the barrier rating to get it loose.

Is the spell sustained? Does the effect start instantly? Does the effect end instantly once the sustaining is over?

Do you only need one net success to turn someone into goo?

Sigh, this is sounding bad, you don't even need to drop that wandering guard with a stun bolt anymore, just cast a force 4ish turn to goo, then stab him a few times with a knife. As the spell requires a relatively low force and only 1 net success to produce instant incapacitation (compared to the force 7+ stun bolt you'd need to throw instead)

The requirement for instant incapacitation is usually linked to not being able to get the alarm out and not being able to retaliate, trun to goo covers both of these.

Congratulations, you just predicted.

(Well, strictly speaking you didn't, but you've got all the information you need to do so. For example, with your six-die caster versus a three-die resister, one in ten times you can expect more successes than they can get resisting. The rest is a bit more than I want to do right now (very tired), but simple and reliable)

~J

I actually have to admit that i still prefer petrify..

it is almost the same, only that you add body to spellforce for barrier rating.
however, instead of cutting yourself through jelly to get the precious cyberware, you simply cast create water right above your victims head. Collect the stuff rinse it in a shower, drop the spell and you got extremly clean, almost ready to implant used cyberware.....

maeel, you are a sick, twisted, warped individual. Why didn't I think of that?

So petrify turns you inot Lot's Wife? That would be a better name for the spell. Pillar of Salt.

Is someone that is turned to Goo still concious? Could they still cast spells or use headware such as to make a call on a headphone?

Or better yet, could a transhuman with a full skull/torso/4-limb conversion just ignore the spell and beat you to a bloody smear?

the desrciption in SR3 states that the target is turned into calcium carbonate, which is water soluble, sure not very well, but good enough that your body washes away like chalk from the board.

ok, ok, not that good, but it works, if the GM is willing.

once the spell design rules are out, i am gonna create my own spell...

Liquify......

not to mention the area spell..... messify

Concentrated Acid on the other hand .... I had a team with a mage/shaman combo that would petrify followed by a toxic wave. Couldn't really stop them much with that one. Luckily the drain for toxic wave usually kicked in eventually and put the shaman out of comission for a little while.

actually one could create a sustained acidstream.... the drain would be + 1 power stronger than the original, and at damage level L....

how is petrify described in SR4 btw?

does that spell already exist in SR3? i've never seen it.....

nah, and for good reason. i dont think you can make a damagedealing spell sustainable...

it was just my idea of a name for that kind of spell

Calcium Carbonate, you need vinegar to be rid of it fast, or CLR.

well in sr3 combat spell couldn' have the sustain option, but manipulation spells could.

Anyway the only difference i see so far between petrify and TtG is the barrier rating.

Liquify and messify.....

and the more enemies come, the richer you get .....

In SR4, most damage dealing spells are now Combat Spells (the old "Elemental Manipulation" category is now under Combat Spells). Fling, Levitate (which can work like Fling for the purposes of combat), Ignite and Poltergeist are still under Manipulation, but Clout is a Combat Spell now. A sustainable version of Toxic Wave or Acid is not possible, but then again, there are no spell design rules right now.

would goo take damage from electric attacks or what about even more damage?

i get your point....

Unless you extend the Combat Spell design rules (under SR3) to Elemental Manips, it's totally possible to make an Area of Effect, sustained-damage manipulation.

Now, see, the DRAIN for such spells is retardedly nasty, and a good deterrent to ever casting the spell at all.

Turn to Goo and a few ranks in Art/sculpting and whala!

"Hello, I am Dr. Ignatius Konstantinopolous, PhD. What am I a PhD in, you ask? Why, metahuman jello sculpture, naturally!"

Turn to goo: Return target to family through mail-slot
Calcify: You'll need a hammer and chisel, and a drek load of aspirin for the mage.

The damage hit on the beginning of each turn. It struck us as the best balanced option.
But you are right, it depends on the "style-of-play" of the individual group. And i'm as glad as you are, that everything, that deals damage (well that is supposed to deal damage in the first place, as there is always the falling damage that could be achieved through levitiation), is back in the Combat Spell Section.

Me, I'd house rule that cyber also turns to goo (bioware does, anyway). The victim paid for it with its Essence, same like why a mage can see with optical cybereyes.

It also prevents cyberware-hunting runners.

PS: Unless you're thinking of letting Tamanous use this spell.

Isn't the spell marked as sustained? Does that mean the target comes back if you stop sustaining the spell? If so, then couldn't go goo-ify a person, load the goo into a container of some sort and get said container into a secure location (i.e. mail it -- security scanning the package notwithstanding, I'm just brainstorming) and then drop the spell thus inserting a person into said secure location?

Can you have sex with the goo?

Actually, I was thinking of how this could be used for murder. Turn someone into goo, pour them into an opening in concrete or steel, and then stop concentrating. Make it a very tiny opening that doesn't open up into anything larger. The stream of blood that shoots out should be a sign of their death, and it'll confuse Lone Star until they bring the mages in.

It has potential as a novel interrogation technique. Say you capture a couple of goons. You can 'turn to goo' one of them and use him to give his friend an enema. Tell him that if he doesn't start talking, you are going to tell the mage to stop concentrating....